NEWS RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT: Don Meyer
Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society, Inc.
P.O. Box 358, North Freedom, WI 53951
608/522-4261 or 608/522-4444 until 5:00 PM
e-mail: dmeyer@midcontinent.org
http://www.midcontinent.org/news/news10.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 16, 2005
Mid-Continent Railway Museum Moves Forward with Steam Locomotive Repairs.
It could be called a Riveting Experience…literally. Mid-Continent Railway Museum at North Freedom, Wisconsin, has operated vintage steam-powered railroad passenger trains at its site since 1963. That is until five years ago this month (February 2000) when the last operable steam locomotive was pulled from service for major repairs to comply with new federal government boiler regulations.
The museum’s trains have been diesel-powered since that time while the steamers are in the shop for overhaul.
“A steam locomotive isn’t an easy thing to rebuild,” states the museum’s manager Don Meyer. “Not only does it take special knowledge, but also lots of manual labor. Every part has to be made from scratch, as we can’t order them from a parts warehouse.”
Old Western Coal & Coke #1, a 55-ton steamer that has been at the museum since 1965 and pulled the trains for many years, is currently the center of attention down at the museum’s locomotive shop.
Pete Deets, the shop foreman, has been overseeing the latest work. “We have an army of volunteers that come in on the weekends and have been concentrating on the boilerwork the last couple years.”
In fact, this weekend (February 19-20) is a monumental occasion for the museum’s shop forces. A new “smokebox” front section of the long barrel of the boiler is ready to be reconnected to the rest of the boiler. This is a watershed event as it is the first major step to reassembling the boiler after several years of taking things apart.
“Riveting is a nearly lost art of steel construction that was used worldwide throughout buildings, bridges, and all of industry until welding and pressure forming surpassed its usefulness,” explains Deets. “Holes are drilled through the pieces to be riveted and then they are tightly bolted to maintain alignment. As a rivet is being heated to red hot in the rivet oven, one bolt is pulled out and the hole is reamed to the exact size needed. When it is ready, the rivet is pulled from the oven with a set of tongs by a worker called the ‘heater,’ passed by a person called the ‘passer’ to a person called the ‘sticker’ who sticks the rivet in the hole. The ‘gunners’ are now signaled to quickly hammer the rivet down from each end with specially designed, very powerful air guns.”
The process must go like clockwork to place the rivet quickly before it cools from its red-hot malleable state. One misstep, and the rivet must be cut back out with a torch and replaced again.
“Using this rivet process not only helps us preserve the historical construction methods of the steam locomotive artifact, it also helps us preserve and teach the nearly 150-year-old skill of riveting to our shop forces,” according to Meyer. Indeed, the museum has been teaching rebuilding skills and maintaining railroad equipment for over forty years at its North Freedom location.
The current steam project represents the largest scale locomotive repair in the museum’s forty-year history.
This weekend also is the museum’s 30th annual Snow TrainTM event. Trains will be operating on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, February 18, 19, and 20. Schedules may be found on the museum’s website www.midcontinent.org, or by calling the museum office at 800-930-1385.
Train fares include admission to the grounds, where guests may see the museum’s award-winning coach restorations on display along with other exhibits on railroad history. Parking is free. All ticket and gift shop proceeds help support the museum’s many programs.
From Baraboo, take Highway 136 west five miles to Highway PF and turn left. Then two miles further to the west side of the village of North Freedom. Parking is free. The museum gift shop is located in the depot.
The Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society, Inc. is a private, not-for-profit corporation founded in 1959 to preserve the “Golden Age” of railroad history (spanning the years 1880 to 1916) for the upper Midwest. Membership is open to anyone interested in supporting our mission.
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LIMITED TO THE MEDIA
High-resolution photos for publication may be downloaded from this link:
http://www.midcontinent.org/press/press_rivets.html
Please note, photos of the actual riveting process from this weekend will be added to the above link by 8:00pm, Sunday, February 20.
More historical information on the steam locomotive which is receiving the rivets may seen at this webpage: http://www.midcontinent.org/collectn/steam/wcc1.html.
Members of the media are invited for a behind the scenes look at the riveting process; access to crews and equipment for personal interviews and special photo opportunities; escorted by a designated museum host. Please contact Don Meyer at the above address/phone to make arrangements.